Vintage 1940s Radium Painted Rolex Oyster Junior Sport Wristwatch - AS IS. Adjustable. 

Rolex was founded in London in 1905 by Hans Wilsdorf and Alfred Davis as Wilsdorf & Davis, and the company initially focused on importing high-quality Swiss movements and housing them in English cases. Wilsdorf officially registered the catchy, easily pronounceable name “Rolex” in 1908 and relocated the entire operation to Geneva, Switzerland, following World War I to avoid steep British wartime taxes. The brand cemented its reputation for pioneering utility in 1926 by creating the “Oyster,” the world's first genuinely dustproof and waterproof wristwatch case. They followed this breakthrough in 1931 by inventing the world’s first self-winding mechanism with a free rotor, a revolutionary system that became the backbone of the iconic “Oyster Perpetual” line. Throughout the mid-20th Century, Rolex specialized in purpose-driven tool watches, engineering legendary models like the Submariner for divers and the GMT-Master for aviators. Today, owned by the private Hans Wilsdorf Foundation, Rolex transcends mere timekeeping to stand as an unparalleled global symbol of status, precision, and enduring luxury.

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